Crash by Nicole Williams Review and Giveaway

Crash by Nicole Williams
★★★★★
Release Date: July 2012
Age: Mature YA
Genre: Realistic Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Family, Music
Format: ebook
Source: Author for Review
Buy it: Amazon | Barnes and Noble
Other books by Nicole: Eternal Eden, Fallen Eden, United Eden, Fissure, Fusion (coming soon)

Southpointe High is the last place Lucy wanted to wind up her senior year of school. Right up until she stumbles into Jude Ryder, a guy whose name has become its own verb, and synonymous with trouble. He's got a rap sheet that runs longer than a senior thesis, has had his name sighed, shouted, and cursed by more women than Lucy dares to ask, and lives at the local boys home where disturbed seems to be the status quo for the residents. Lucy had a stable at best, quirky at worst, upbringing. She lives for wearing the satin down on her ballet shoes, has her sights set on Juilliard, and has been careful to keep trouble out of her life. Up until now. Jude's everything she needs to stay away from if she wants to separate her past from her future. Staying away, she's about to find out, is the only thing she's incapable of. For Lucy Larson and Jude Ryder, love's about to become the thing that tears them apart.

Wow! Let me catch my breath. Hold on. Almost ready. Ok.

Nicole Williams continues to blow me away with her phenomenal storytelling. The intense passion and just all around intense story is genius at work. This woman has exceeded all expectations I've had and raised the bar extremely high for future books in the same categories, sorry guys but only a few have been able to compare. Crash is one heck of wild ride, and I am pretty obsessed with it (I've read it twice and haven't even had it a week).

Let's start with the drama. Oh man can Nicole Williams create some juicy what's-around-the-next-corner drama. Lucy's life isn't peaches and cream and neither is Jude's and that's what makes this story so real and unbelievable at the same time. Her characters have flaws and make mistakes. They learn their lessons and still repeat offenses. Their existences are nitty gritty and high in the emotional content, for different reasons, but they are both living with what they've got. Jude is simply a mess, but what a delicious mess he is. He does things in this book that made me want to slap him but then he turns around and it all makes sense. Jude is my ultimate book crush, he is up there with Lucas from Easy and Travis from Beautiful Disaster! Oh what a great character you have created Nicole not only in this book but all of them!

Fans of Tammara Webber's Easy and Abbi Glines's  Because of Low will drool over this book and cry for more at the end, I did. It's not enough, Nicole can't write fast enough to fill this void that is left behind after reading her writing. If you haven't read any of her books, this one or the Eternal Eden books, GO.

As happens with all of my Nicole Williams book reviews this one is just going to turn into a love-fest. I couldn't put this book down, I was so consumed in the story everything else around me just disappeared. I love this author, I will follow her to the ends of the earth if I have to (oo Nicole a zombie apocalypse romance novel, I'm liking this idea that I totally just made up, we should talk ;) ). I digress.

If you're looking for a contemporary romance with a can't-stop-reading plot, a hopelessly perfect love story,  twists and secrets galore, not to mention Beatles references, well have I got the perfect book for you. It's this book by Nicole Williams and it's called Crash. Not only does it have all that, but it has more. It has ballet, a bad boy, family tragedy, beautifully broken characters, and everything I look for in a book. It's the strawberry to my strawberry fields.

As I previously mentioned, Nicole has raised the bar, this may be her first contemporary but I really hope it's not the last because she has a gift. She's one of my favorite authors and her writing takes me places, it's a wonderful escape and an interesting ride. The drama in this book is like no other, it's the perfect blend of everything and I'm addicted. I'm so serious when I say READ IT. I know I say that a lot but I always mean it. I would never steer you wrong.

Mini Interview

I had a few fun questions I was dying to ask Nicole after reading this book. And, she is so awesome she took time to answer them!

Was there something that inspired you to write Crash? "Nothing I can specifically point a finger at, other than the appeal of wanting to challenge myself to write a different kind of leading man than my previous books. The bad boy turf was new territory for me, but I really enjoyed writing Jude (probably too much) and there will be more bad boys to come in the future I fear."

The Beatles play a large part in your story (which a awesome!), I'm assuming you like them ;) do you have any other favorite musicians or bands? "I love so many different kinds of music. If I had to pick some favorites, I'd say Coldplay, Snow Patrol, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Avett Brothers (thanks to Colleen Hoover's influence!), Taylor Swift, John Mayer, and LifeHouse. There are so many others though, this is such a hard question for me! In one scene I might switch from blasting Lady Gaga to being soothed by a James Horner song. I've got music ADD." 

You and me both Nicole, I bet Pandora looks at my playlists and wonders what is up with me!

Dance, ballet specifically, seems to be a strong escape element of the book. Did you or do you dance? "I used to dance, but only for a couple years as a little girl. I chose ballet for Lucy because I believe it's important for people to have at least one solid passion in life they can use as a means of escape. One thing that will make even the worst day better. For Lucy, ballet got her through the dark parts of her life."

Giveaway

Nicole is a darling and is offering one ebook of Crash to a lucky winner!
So enter and tell everyone you know to enter, share the love.

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